Alliance for Education Community Blog: 2010 Alliance for Education Community Breakfast

Monday, May 3, 2010

2010 Alliance for Education Community Breakfast - A Great Success

Last Wednesday the Alliance for Education held its 8th Annual Community Breakfast to the beat of the Denny Middle School Steel Drum Band. Over 900 individuals attended the Community Breakfast. Turn out for this year’s breakfast was the largest ever, many of them community members, students, teachers and principals of Seattle Public Schools that believe a city’s success starts with the public school system. This year’s breakfast featured Mayor Mike McGinn, Seattle Public School Superintendent Dr. Maria Goodloe-Johnson, and Wendy Puriefoy, President of the Public Education Network.

Moved and inspired by the performances and testimonies of students and teachers, over $215,000 was raised to support the Alliance for Education, which will use the funds to boost academic achievement in Seattle Public Schools.

Sara Morris, President and CEO of the Alliance, addressed the recent progress of the Alliance for Education as well as what still needs to be done to ensure that every child in the Seattle Public School District receives the best education possible.

Daniel Nguyen, the ASB president and senior from Franklin High School emceed the event which featured performances from the Denny Middle School Steel Drum Band and the S.C.A.T.S. acrobatics team from Dearborn Park Elementary. Keynote speaker Wendy Puriefoy, the President of Public Education Network from Washington D.C., spoke about education reform and the importance of community in the efforts of achieving quality public education.

The breakfast also celebrated the achievement of certain individuals and made the public aware and proud of what’s going on in their community. The following awards were recognized:

Comcast Leaders and Achievers Awards for Student Excellence,
Swain Teacher Awards for Excellence, and
Thomas B. Foster Award for Principal Excellence

We are grateful for everyone's support for the Alliance -- a partner and advocate for every student in Seattle Public Schools.

Thank you and see you next year!

- Mark Yango, AFE

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About the Alliance

The Alliance for Education is an independent non-profit supporting Seattle Public Schools. Since 1995, the Alliance has raised and invested over $130 million to address systemic needs in the district. Through fundraising, advocacy and community engagement, the Alliance acts as a strategic partner and “critical friend” to SPS. The Alliance cultivates the practice of charitable giving to education causes in Seattle and directs resources into three specific areas: building leadership capacity within the district, promoting excellence in teaching, and expanding rigorous academic offerings.

If you have a suggestion for a blog topic, please contact Rachel Hug, Communications Coordinator, at 206.205.0322 or rachel@alliance4ed.org.

Rules of Engagement*

· We increase our communities’ sense of belonging and build a common vision for public schools

· We shift our conversations from the problems within our communities to the possibility of communities

· We commit to create a future for our communities that is distinct from the past

· Our power is in the asking of the questions, not in having the answers

We are committed to upholding the following values for meaningful dialogue:

I. INVITATION: the means through which hospitality is created. Honors the importance of choice, the necessary condition for accountability.

II. POSSIBILITY: an act of imagination of what we can create together, and it takes the form of a declaration made publicly.

III. OWNERSHIP: asks citizens to act if they were creating what exists in the world

IV. DISSENT: creates an opening for commitment; explores people’s doubts and resignation

V. COMMITMENT: a promise with no expectation or return

VI. GIFTS: the essence of valuing diversity and inclusion over deficiencies

*Referenced from Peter Block, Community: The Structure of Belonging